Burton back in groove with Barbury treble

By Hugh Condry

12:01AM GMT 17 Jan 2006

Richard Burton rode eight trebles when winning the men's championship in 2005, and on Saturday chalked up his first successes of the new campaign with another three-timer on the opening day of the Point-to-Point Owners and Riders Club fixture at Barbury Castle.

The Shropshire rider missed the meeting's second day, travelling instead to Ampton in Suffolk. There, he won the Dunston Harriers' Intermediate on Rebel Army, recovering ground lost when his mount slipped dangerously landing over the fourth-last to get back up to beat Lord Valnic by half-a-length.

Burton's Barbury Castle winners came in three of the last four races of a nine-race day, by which time the going, softened by early morning rain, had become testing. He sought the better ground on the outside and, after scoring narrowly in one of the young-horse Maidens with Go Classic, took both divisions of the Restricted more comfortably aboard Classic Shot and President Hill.

Jamie Snowden's winner-a-day run was temporarily halted when his six rides yielded just a couple of third places. But he came back on the second day of the fixture to win a Mares' Maiden on Dantaly, and the Volkswagen Touareg qualifier, thanks to a fine front-running performance from Deep Pockets.

So at this very early stage of the season, Snowden has five wins to Burton's four.

All the Barbury Castle fences were moved overnight to provide fresh ground for the second day. The team, working under portable floodlights, included ground staff from Cheltenham, where the PPORA chairman Simon Claisse is clerk of the course.

Rachael Green and the Richard Barber-trained Rimpton Boy resumed their successful partnership in the Ladies' Open. Last season, they won eight consecutive races together, and now Green brought the grey with a perfectly-timed challenge to catch Lady Misprint at the final fence. She had ridden another Barber horse, Spuddler's Dream, to win on the first day.

Newcomers to the winner's enclosure included Sian Carter, who won a Hiscox Intermediate on Abbey Days, Peter Mann, successful in a Maiden on Killarney Prince, and Ed Cookson, who rode Billywill in a Novice Riders' division. Cookson, 17, arrived with two minutes to spare, having had to return home to fetch a forgotten saddle and rider's certificate.

Cantarinho, who lost his form last year, was among the Ampton winners, where his trainer-rider, David Kemp, also took the Maiden with Comeonourfella.